LSU Football: How high could Justin Jefferson go in 2020 NFL Draft?

LSU football receiver Justin Jefferson was not on many people’s radar heading into the 2019 season. Now, he’s flying up the draft boards.

When he arrived at LSU, most people did not know who Justin Jefferson was and if you did, you probably only thought of him as the next member of the Jefferson family that would suit up for LSU. His brother Jordan played quarterback for LSU and was a part of the 2011 team that made it all the way to the national title game and Justin’s other brother Rickey was a safety for the Tigers.

Now, everyone knows who Justin Jefferson is after a dominant 2019 season in which he was a part of what might be the greatest offense in college football history. If you were not familiar with Jefferson before, you certainly knew about him after his performance in the College Football Playoff against Oklahoma, as he recorded 14 catches for 227 yards and four touchdowns.

Jefferson would then go on to have over 100 yards in the national title game win against Clemson and then enter into the NFL draft.

Some were unsure of exactly where Jefferson would go in the draft, but his stock went way up after his performance at the NFL combine. Jefferson measured in at 6-foot-1 and 202 pounds and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.43 seconds and had a vertical jump of 37.5 inches. And after that performance, Jefferson is getting a lot of first-round hype and could be one of the first receivers off the board.

Jefferson arrived at LSU as the lowest-rated recruit in the Tigers’ 2017 recruiting class and he showed up with a lot to prove and show that he just wasn’t taken as a legacy recruit because of his name. He did not see any playing time in 2017 and took a redshirt and looked to make an impact as a redshirt freshman next season.

As a redshirt freshman, he took a big leap in 2018 becoming LSU’s leading receiver and helping the Tigers and new quarterback Joe Burrow to a 10-3 season and a Fiesta Bowl win over defending national champion UCF (I’m sorry I could not help it). He recorded 54 catches for 875 yards and six touchdowns.

LSU returned most of their production on offense and had some expectations with new passing game coordinator Joe Brady in 2019, but nobody could have foreseen the way that LSU would go on to becoming the most dominant team in the country. Jefferson finished the season with 111 catches, 1,540 yards and 18 touchdowns and helped lead LSU to a national title and became one of the greatest teams in college football history.

Strengths

Jefferson has good size and speed to play on the outside in the NFL and he shined in that role at LSU. He has some of the best hands in the entire draft class and made touch catches routinely and he needed too because one of the big parts of LSU’s offense last season was being reliant on the deep ball on inside fade routes and Jefferson is a very good deep route runner and locates the ball well.

Weaknesses

The LSU star played in a wide open spread offense this past season and the scheme that he was playing in was designed to get him the ball and get him open. There could be some concern that Jefferson only became a big-time receiver because of Brady and his scheme and if his success will translate to the NFL, where he will have to use his route running and physical traits to get free from NFL defensive backs.

Jefferson is very good all around but he lacks an elite specific trait such as Jerry Jeudy’s route running, Henry Ruggs’ speed or Ceedee Lamb’s hands.

Draft Projection

The NFL combine showed that Jefferson is much more than a system receiver and he will go anywhere from the mid-to-late first round and make an instant impact on whatever team he lands.

Projection: First round